Old Dominion takes “Little Saint Nick” for a spin on CMA Country Christmas

Courtesy CMAOld Dominion has never recorded a holiday song, but you’ll get your first chance to hear the five-man band doing some yuletide fare on this year’s CMA Country Christmas special.

For their first appearance on the annual show, the CMA Vocal group of the Year picked the rock and roll classic “Little Saint Nick.”

“You know, taking on a Beach Boys song is not an easy thing to do,” lead singer Matthew Ramsey says, “because nobody can do what the Beach Boys do. But it’s a cool song, and being a band, it’s fun for us to kind of dig in and find our own voice in a song like that — or voices, really.”

Matthew admits it took some time for OD to put their own spin on the holiday tune from 1963.

“We just kinda went into the studio and kinda hashed it out for a day to figure out how we were gonna play it,” he explains. “I think it came out pretty cool. I think it’s gonna be really good.”

“You know, it hearkens the Beach Boys but it doesn’t sound like we’re trying to copy them, thankfully, because that would be a mistake,” he laughs.

You can check out OD, as well as host Reba McEntire, Dan + Shay, Dustin Lynch, Martina McBride and many more, when CMA Country Christmas premieres Monday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.